USAF Half Marathon - 2hrs6min16sec

So I wussed out from not training very much this summer and changed from the full marathon to the half. I'm glad I did, otherwise I'd still be laying on the side of the road. Kaden and I drove down on Friday afternoon to pick up my packet and attend the pasta dinner at the USAF Museum. The food was pretty good and the speaker from Runners World Magazine was great.

After a long night at Laura's sister's house with no power and a partially inflated air matress, I made it to the run over an hour early after a bagel and coffee at Panera. It was nice to have plenty of time to warm up and stroll around before the race started at 830am.

The race started and I told myself that I'd try to keep my BPM around 140. About a half mile in, I was already pushing 150 and so I told myself I'd stay in the 150's. About a mile in, I was already in the mid-160's and running up hill. It was not to be. The entire race had me in the 160's, 170's and occasionally higher. Oops! The route was quite hilly compared to the other two half marathons I've done (Columbus and Cleveland). It was through the USAF Museum, Fairborn and WPAFB and back.

I felt great and was moving well for the first ten or so miles. The last three were miserable. My HR felt very high, my legs felt heavy and I just couldn't keep a good breathing rhythm. I almost walked a few times but could practically see the finish line from almost two miles away. (Air Force bases are big and flat.)

Anyway, I ended at 2 hours 6 minutes and 16 seconds for a pace of 9:38/mile which is a PR. Sweet. As much as I dread the race as it comes up and am in pain during the race, within ten minutes after I finish I'm already thinking about the next one I can do. Columbus is in a month. I should be there.

Ford Ironman Louisville 2008 - Volunteer

I have signed up to volunteer this month down in Louisville, KY at the 2008 Ford Ironman Louisville race. My shift will be four hours long (from 2:30p to 6:30p on race day) as a "bike catcher". The race is on the last Sunday in August and I'm hoping to fly down in the Cheetah. Nothing beats a good reason to fly!

I'm not exactly sure what a bike catcher is supposed to do since I figure people, at the transition, dismount, walk their bike to the rack and then change for the run. I guess around 2p, I'll find out.

Bike Catcher - Volunteer Listing

Kewpee Lima YMCA Triathlon/Duathlon 2008

Laura and I both entered the race this year for some Sunday morning fun. I did the full duathlon by myself (2m run/30k bike/5k run) and Laura made a team to do the triathlon (.5m swim/30k bike/5k run).

Long story short, everything went well and I ended up taking 1st in my age division and Laura's team took 3rd in the women's team category. My finish time was 1 hr 44 min which is much better than last year's 1hr 56min 39sec. Having a road bike makes a big difference.

Laura's team ended this race with a time of 1hr 51min 35sec.


To view all the pictures, please CLICK HERE.

More HRM Fun

Here are a few more HRM graphs from the past week. The first one is from the Freedom 5K I ran on July 4th. I tried to keep my HR up throughout and then really hit it in the last bit. I did OK on it, but I'm still slow.


This next one is from my impromptu 14 mile run the day after the 5K (Saturday). Unfortunately I didn't really take into account the fact that this is more than a half marathon and I just plain didn't prepare (decided to do it about three hours beforehand after not eating much that day) and didn't take enough water/gel. I exploded after about 10.5 miles and ended up walking a few times which equaled about 1.5 miles. Oh, well. It was a great learning experience, for sure. I was able to keep my HR very steady for the first half to 2/3's.


Finally, this last one is from an interval bike ride I did today. I read about it in Men's Health and how doing two minutes at a hard pace and then one at an easy for awhile will yield better results than just going out and "riding". It was difficult and I felt I did an OK job at keeping to the pattern. My legs are waaaay weak (I didn't have enough leg power to get my HR where I wanted it - low 170's) and I need to start biking more -- especially before the duathlon in a couple weeks. Either way, the peaks and valleys really show my heart working. Sweet.

Air Force Marathon [20 Sep]

It's been a little less than a week since the Cleveland Half Marathon and I'm ready to start the 18 week training plan for the full marathon in Dayton, OH. I just signed myself up for the full 26.2 mile run of the USAF Marathon.

For training, I'll be using the Hal Higdon "Novice 2" schedule which gets you running up to 20 miles at one time before the big day. I may revisit this in a week or two and move up to another schedule that does more mileage. Last time I used the novice was for the Columbus Half Marathon last October which only took me to 10 miles for a 13.1 mile race and I didn't feel nearly as prepared.

Anyway, wish me luck and I'm looking forward to doing this one! The route starts at the USAF Museum and then around the grounds there, around the area and then through the current Wright-Patterson AFB and then back to the museum for the finish. Very cool surroundings.

Cleveland Half Marathon and 10K Pictures

All photos from BrightRoom. Unfortunately none of them of Laura or I are good enough to pay for. Here are the ones they took of us.

First Bike Ride of the Year

The weather and timing came together today and I finally pulled the Masi off the garage wall, lubed it up and put some air in the tires. Everything seemed good to go so I put the HRM on and headed out for an hour-plus ride around the country side. It felt good and I took some water and some Gu Energy Gel. (Mmm. It was very good.)

21.5 miles
1hr 8 minutes
18.6mph avg
26.8mph max

(Click graph for full size.)

Suunto X6HR Info - Cleveland Half Marathon

I picked up a Suunto X6HR a couple days before the race on Steep and Cheap for a GREAT price and strapped it on for the run. During the run, I chose to stay below 160 and did so for the most part. There were a few times on hills or towards the end where I went above, but that's to be expected. I hope this will help in training for the next race.

Anyway, here is the chart that this thing spits out into my PC. You can see the graph, of course, on top with HR being the top and altimeter being the bottom. Also they have the important numbers spelled out on the bottom.

(Click the chart to see it in full size.)

Cleveland Half Marathon and 10K

Laura and I headed to Cleveland yesterday for today's run. We stayed at the Crown Plaza downtown which was conveniently about one block from the run's start/finish line. Sweet.






After hitting up the "convention" to pick up our packets, race numbers and a few freebies, we headed out to Little Italy for some dinner at La Dolce Vita. (Thanks to Melissa K for the recommendation!) We then hit up an Italian bakery across the street for dessert.






Sunday morning dawned cloudy and rainy - not fun for a long run, but it was better than super-hot. Justin and I ran the half marathon together in 2:15:22 and Laura did the 10K in 1:12:24 with Crystal coming in at 1:14:01. You can see all the stats on the CM Results Page.

After the race and some showers, we headed to the mall in Parma for some shopping and returns at Express, lunch at Charley's and then headed home.

New Shoes and Half Marathon

The warm weather is coming up (I hope) and marks the time for a new pair of running shoes. My white and orange pair is becoming quite uncomfortable as my feet start to hurt before my legs. That usually means they've lost their usefulness. (My socking starting to come out the side is a good indicator too.)

I got on www.adidas.com and ordered yet another pair of the Supernova Cushion line. They are up to 7 while my current pair is the 6. I've heard so much good about them and they get quite a few awards every year from the big running rags. Also, I had a ton of good luck with them this past year. They carried me through 13.1 miles in Columbus so that's saying something.

I also signed up for the Cleveland Half Marathon on May 18th. It's 55 days away and I haven't started to train. I've been running all winter indoors, but I need to get some mileage built up and start working it outdoors more. Fun. (As I type this, I question why I do it.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a better year of running and biking with more races throughout the year. Yay for self-inflicted pain!

1.5 Miles - 11 Minutes 28 Seconds (Av - 7.8mph)

Today I hit the YMCA for the third day in a row and didn't realize until I got there that I forgot my running shoes. Doh! I actually had my old running shoes (about four generations old) and they are really worn out. (They actually squeak when I walk and I still wear them as daily shoes.) With that being the situation, I decided that instead of a 5 mile run, I would see if I could push out a 1.5 mile run in 12 minutes (7.5mph average).

Well, I got about five minutes into it and felt very good, even after a lifting workout beforehand. So I started upping the speed by .1mph every minute and was at 8mph at the 9 minute mark. With about .25mile left, I punched it up to 9mph and then up to 10.1mph with about .03mile left.

This is, by far, the fastest I've ever ran anything longer than 400m. My heart rate, by the machine could finally read it, was up to 188bpm. I'm glad it didn't explode.

Late November Ride

The way I see it, if it's late November and the temperature is over 60F, I should probably use it to make a good ride on the Masi. Ride I did. I suited up and cruised east on SR 81 until I got to 30 minutes of riding, which incidently took me to the Hardin/Allen County Line.

I had my camera with me since I wanted to get a shot of a river nearby, but I didn't stop since I was cruising and it's sometimes hard to get back in a rhythm again.

Anyway...

Moulton Turkey Trot 5K - 25:34 (PR)

Temperature - 39F. Conditions - windy and rain. Attitude - ready to RUN.

So it wasn't the best day to run outdoors, but there were about 125 runners today gathered west of Wapakoneta, OH for the 22nd(?) annual Moulton Turkey Trot 5K at 1:30pm. (At least they made it in the afternoon. That helped.) The course did a "country block" loop clockwise and ended at the township house.

I started towards the back of the group since I know my speed: slow. I slowly made my way up in the pack while remembering my times at the mile splits:

Mile 1 - 8:38
Mile 2 - 16:58
Mile 3 - 24:58
Finish - 25:34

I started at a decent clip but had to kick it up a bit when I heard that first split. I thought I was moving much better than that. After I hit the Mile 2 marker, I turned it on and kept it up the rest of the race. I am darn happy with turning an 8 minute mile on my third one. Sweet!

Anyway, a new PR and a medal for getting 3rd in my age division (which didn't only have three entrant, this time). That's a good day of running in mid-November. Looking forward to next year!

Cold Weather Riding

This morning when I walked outside for my ride, the temperature was 38F and the wind was out of the south at 10mph. Brrr! At least I was prepared after a trip to Bike Works in Sylvania a couple weeks back. I bought a few items that I was very glad to have today.

I biked a little over 20 miles which took me from home down to the river walk and then I headed north to the beginning of the trail at Schoonover Park and then turned around and headed all the way south to the trail head in Heritage Park. The trail is right at 7 miles each way. Not too bad for our town. Unfortunately, when I made it there and I was really jonesing for some Gatorade, I realized that my water bottle fell out somewhere during my ride. Dangit! Of course, there was not a water fountain to be found either.

I headed back home and stayed relatively warm. Special thanks to Joe Reger for the tip on cutting some old wool socks to keep my feet warm in the light, holey Diadora cycling shoes I bought. They worked pretty well. Here was my setup for the cold ride today.

First Swim Session

After receiving my shipment from Speedo this past Friday, I knew I couldn't avoid it much longer. I bought a new suit, goggles, rubber cap and some nose plugs. I headed to the Lima YMCA this morning at 6am and was in the water by 620. (The picture on the left is the actual pool in Lima.) I didn't set a hard goal, save to do as much swimming as possible. The first time I tried this over a year ago, I was only able to manage four laps (1 lap = down and back once). That was a feat and required a stop or two in the middle of the pool from powerless arms.

After about three laps today, I decided that I'd shoot for nine laps which equaled 450y; just a hair over a quarter mile (440y). I made it to the end of my ninth lap and I was pretty well satisfied with my effort, so I took a soak in the hot tub.

I do need to make some goggle adjustments since it is an hour and a half after I finished as I write this and I can still feel where they were pushing my eye sockets in, tempting to pop the eyeball straight out.

Today was a very promising start to swimming. Going from four laps a year ago to a fresh start with nine, I know that my running and biking conditioning played a role in it. Now I just need to start building up to 50y at a time and so on. I have months to train without any race. Hopefully I can stay with it.

I can.

Bike Upgrades

Well, now that I'm doing more riding solo than anything in preparation of some duathlon/triathlon action in 2008, I wanted to get my bike better suited for it. In this kind of riding, being in an aerodynamic position for extended periods of time is crucial since you aren't drafting behind other riders like you see in road racing (i.e. Tour de France). Since I bought the wrong kind of bike (road vs. tri), I ended up going to Bike Works in Sylvania, OH for some after market parts (thanks to Steve and Ben for the help) and a proper fitting from John.

I added some aero bars and Look pedals to the bike and some more apparel to my collection including some Diadora road shoes. Sweet. After about an hour on the bike with John, he got everything down to the correct angles for my legs, back and other parts that need to line up just right to product the maximum amount of power while still being comfortable and leaving room to breathe.

After a 22 mile ride today, I can say that being "aero" really makes a difference when you're pushing through the wind. I rode a rolling, country road the whole time, so I was on and off the bike a lot and on and off the brakes and shifters quite a bit. I would love a flat, smooth road where I could just stay down and see how it feels. Either way, I know this was a step in the right direction.

500 2007 Running Miles

I passed my goal of 500 running miles for 2007 that I made at the beginning of the year. It happened on the 10th mile of the half marathon.

Woohoo!

Maybe I'll hit 600 this year.

Columbus Half Marathon (2:10:46)

Well, it came and went. I did my first longer run and it was great. To keep it short, I was a little nervous going in thinking I wasn't prepared. Well, I'd say I was about 85% prepared. The "Hal Higdon" training sheet I used only got me up to 10 miles of running at a time and I think it needs to go to race length. Ugh. Thirteen miles seems more than three miles longer than ten. Oh well.

During the race, I tried to keep a good pace and was able to keep them all within about a minute of each other. However, I wish I'd kept them all closer to 9:45/mile for a bit better of a finish. Either way, I did the first eleven or so miles without problem and then the last two (slightly uphill - north on High St) had me huffing for the end. I was trying to make up a little time, but I lost my breathing rhythm.

Well, now I need to decide on the next race - another half or a full?

Here are a few stats and photos from the race.

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes 46 seconds

Mile 1: 9.44
Mile 2: 9.20
Mile 3: 9.31
Mile 4: 9.55
Mile 5: 9.38
Mile 6: 9.38
Mile 7: 9.55
Mile 8: 10.04
Mile 9: 10.04
Mile 10: 10.35
Mile 11: 10.32
Mile 12-13.1: 22.29 (I didn't see the mile marker sight to split it)

10 Mile Run (1:33:12) - Best of the Season

Today was my last "big run" before the Columbus 1/2 Marathon next Sunday. I set off from my house and out to Fetter and then down to SR 81. I headed East on 81 all the way to Fisher Rd. (right before the ice cream stand). After a turn around, I headed back home.

What a great run! I felt really strong the entire way and slowly drank the water I took with me, still having a little left when I finished.

Here are my splits as best as I could take them based on my approximate distant measuring.

Miles 1-3 = 27:41 (avg 9:13)
Mile 4 = 9:40
Mile 5 = 9:24
Mile 6 = 9:14
Mile 7 = 9:27
Mile 8-9 = 18:39 (avg 9:19)
Mile 10 = 9:04

Average = 9:19/mile

400+ Running Miles

I finally hit another milestone of running for the year. My goal from the beginning of the year is 500 miles of running, and I'm 4/5 of the way there. Within the next six weeks or so, I will cover well over 100 miles and make this goal on the way to, and completing, the Columbus Half Marathon. Wish me luck -- I'll need it.

Here are my current numbers after the 5.1 mile run last night:

YEAR TOTALS

Running: 404.6 miles
Time: 2 days, 11h 20m 44s
Avg. Pace: 8:48/mile

Cycling: 212.8 miles
Time: 12h 10m 35s
Avg. Pace: 3:26/mile

I wouldn't mind hitting 500 miles on the bike this year, as well. You can track all my progress on my Training Log.